Aoi Kurashiki
Santa |gender = Male |age = 15 24 (born c. 2003) |hair = White |eye = Blue |occupation = Co-leader of Crash Keys Stockbroker |status = Alive |relative = Akane Kurashiki (sister) |affiliates = N/A |appearances = 999 Virtue's Last Reward (mentioned) }} Aoi Kurashiki (倉式 葵 Kurashiki Aoi), also known by his codename Santa, was one of the nine players in the Nonary Game created by Zero. His bracelet number appears to be 3, although it secretly functions as another number 9 bracelet. Appearance Aoi has white spiky hair adorned with two black headbands, blue eyes, and a slim build. He wears a thin black scarf, white tank top, black pants, black arm warmers, and brand new black and silver boots. Like the other players, he wears a bracelet on his left wrist. In the past, Aoi wore a dark uniform with a blue scarf, black pants, brown shoes, and a messenger bag. Personality Although Aoi was usually rude, smug, arrogant and cocky, he tended to be sarcastic and mysterious as well. He is a lone wolf, and he has no spirit of cooperation, preferring to work by himself. He was very suspicious of the other players and didn't trust anyone, other than himself. At one point in the Nonary Game, he even advised Junpei to not trust the others in any circumstances whatsoever, saying that anyone could deceive him. Depending on the doors chosen, he strikes a small "friendship" during his nine hours with Junpei, presumably because he knows that Junpei will be the one to save his sister, and even gives Junpei a bookmark. This doesn't necessarily mean he lacks empathy or is cold, however. He describes himself as a "21st century guy". When extremely agitated, he has the tendency to use profanity. Aoi also knows a bit about science, as exhibited during the kitchen investigation room. Aoi may be bisexual, but it's ambiguous (see Trivia). Aoi is based on the "Enthusiasm" Enneagram of Personality. Its fear is based on being trapped in pain and deprivation and its desire is to be satisfied and content, much like how Aoi fears losing his sister. Background Childhood Some time early in his childhood, Aoi's parents died in a car crash and he became an orphan. He became a guardian for his younger sister Akane Kurashiki and the two lived happily together. Aoi cared deeply for her and tried to give her the world, even if it meant he got nothing in return. Though the two were financially poor, they were happy together. Every year for Christmas, he would tell his sister to write a letter to Santa Claus asking for a gift or two that she wanted and he would send it to a fake address located in Europe. Before she could go to the mailbox to send it, Aoi would take the letter that came back marked "Unknown address" and read the list she had wrote to Santa Claus that year. Using the money that he had saved up over the year, Aoi would use it to buy the present Akane had asked for. However, one year, Akane wrote that she wanted to have "things stay the way they are now", because she was happy. First Nonary Game Unfortunately for the two of them, shortly after receiving her letter, they were chosen and kidnapped by Cradle Pharmaceutical to participate in the First Nonary Game for scientific purposes. However, Akane was accidentally put on the Gigantic when she was supposed to go to Building Q in Nevada. Although Aoi placed much effort to ensure he and Akane survived the First Nonary game, it was in vain. After escaping and going back for a present she had received from Junpei, Akane was caught and thrown into the incinerator by Gentarou Hongou. The incinerator was launched into emergency mode, forcing Akane to ask for the future Junpei's help. These events nine years prior to the start of the Second Nonary Game would contribute to its creation. In the timeline in which Akane did not survive, Aoi saw her burned corpse with strips of gorey flesh and skin melted off, and screamed in horror. After Akane was able to escape in another timeline, she reunited with her brother and preceded to escape along with the other escapees on the ship. Because Akane was only able to escape by enabling the Second Nonary Game, he agreed to help plan it to save his sister and avoid a time paradox. Crash Keys Later on, Aoi became a stockbroker and gained huge sums of money with the help of stocks of Cradle Pharmaceutical, and founded the organization Crash Keys with his sister. Their stocks had increased due to the success of the drug Soporil. It is implied that Akane (and maybe Aoi as well) used their esper abilities to predict the future of the stock market and buy accordingly. Second Nonary Game preparation During the following years after the First Nonary Game, Aoi helped his sister Akane plan and prepare the Second Nonary Game. This was to get revenge on the Cradle Pharmaceutical executives and to have Junpei save Akane in the past. In August and November 2027, he helped kidnap the participants to be in the game and brought them to Building Q in Nevada. Aoi wore a bracelet which had the number 3, which secretly functioned as another number 9 bracelet. ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' The Nonary Game began when they set off an explosion in the lower decks of the ship. His mission was to ensure Junpei would save Akane since he was the only one who can, due to his relationship with her. Aoi would also act like a "bad guy" to hide his intentions. He apparently escaped from a room similar to the 3rd class cabin and met up with the other players at the central staircase. He was the first to run towards the numbered doors and finds both locked. Suddenly, Zero started talking on the loud speaker. He told the players that they were participating in the Nonary Game and that they had a set of rules in their pockets. Junpei read out the rules, and Zero told them that they had 9 hours to escape. He flickered off the loudspeaker, leaving Aoi to use "language coarse enough to embarrass a sailor". The players started looking around the area for a way to escape, but found that they are sealed off with every door locked. The players, including Aoi, start arguing about their next course of action, but Junpei interrupted them and requested them to exchange information with each other. Seven suggested that they should choose codenames. Aoi decided to choose Santa for his codename while Akane chose June. Shortly after Teruaki Kubota introduced himself, he had taken hostage of Clover. Aoi watched as Kubota entered Door 5 by himself and died after realizing he was tricked by Hongou about the DEAD authentication. When the players decided to view what happened to Kubota, Aoi and the others were horrified by the gruesome remains of the tricked man. Akane soon became feverish, grieving on why Kubota had to die, with Junpei rushing to her side to comfort her. The clock soon rang, signaling that it was 10 P.M. Aoi insisted on proceeding through the doors, but before they do, Snake used a braille message from Zero to explain to Aoi and the other players the players a braille message he had gotten from Zero and explains to the players on how the RED, DEAD, and bracelets work. With everyone better informed, they head towards the numbered doors. Aoi refused to go through Door 5, claiming that his new shoes would get dirty, though he said that to presumably prevent Akane from going through Door 5, since they would have to go through together. If Junpei chooses Door 4 Hongou, Snake, Clover, and Seven decided to go through Door 5 and Aoi, Junpei, Akane, and Lotus go through Door 4. Aoi and the others soon found themselves in the 2nd class cabin. Aoi soon asked Junpei if he could take a bookmark he found off his hands. Junpei questioned him at first but eventually relieved Aoi by taking the bookmark. They managed to escape the cabin but discovered that they were in a kitchen. When exploring the freezer, Aoi, Akane, and Junpei suddenly found themselves trapped in, with Lotus unable to help. Shivering, they quickly tried to find their way out. While Junpei was looking at a bag of dry ice, Aoi wondered why carbon dioxide never turned into a liquid. Akane mentioned that there was a kind of ice called Ice-9 that froze and melted at 96 degrees, which captured both Aoi's and Junpei's interest. She then started talking about how similar it was to how glycerin was first crystallized. Aoi suddenly suggested that they should get back to work before they freeze to death. Junpei made a "bomb" by filling a water bottle with crushed dry ice and tying it to the freezer door. It blew the ice off the handle and they all tumbled out, happy to be alive. Aoi and Lotus bickered for a bit more and before it got out of hand. Junpei soon found the Saturn key card and they managed to escape the kitchen. Reunion They followed the exit and opened the double doors to find themselves in the large hospital room. There were three numbered doors (Door 3, Door 7, and Door 8) in the room, along with an ridiculous amount of thin beds. They went up to the REDs to examine them, and found that they were not functioning. They soon reunited with Snake's group and exchanged information. Afterwards, they went off to look for the missing RED parts. During this time, Aoi subdued Snake with gaseous Sporil, made him wear a ceremonial robe and had the kidnapped Nagisa Nijisaki to wear Snake's clothing. Afterwards, Aoi presumably placed the RED parts back into the REDs. Due to his prosopagnosia and Nijisaki's clothing, Hongou soon killed Nijisaki under the assumption that he was Snake in order to eliminate a potential threat. All the other players came back and saw that the parts were mysteriously put back in. Junpei noticed that Snake has not come back from his search so the players split up to find him. Clover was worried that something had happened to her brother. Afterwards, the players decided that they had to move on and Lotus proposed that for the most people to survive, one player had to sacrifice themselves. Akane harshly rejected the idea, but Hongou injected himself with Soporil so they couldn't bring him along. If Junpei chooses Door 3 Should Junpei choose Door 3, Santa will say that that is impossible, as it would leave yet another person behind and asks him to choose again. If Junpei insists on Door 3 (a decision which, according to later dialogue, is motivated by the desire not to leave June), he will then trick Seven and June into authenticating, and finally scans it himself. * 7 + 6 + 5 = 18 = 1 + 8 = 9 This still isn't enough to make a digital root of 3, so Junpei says either Santa, or Lotus and Clover could come with him. * 7 + 6 + 5 + 3 = 21 = 2 + 1 = 3 or * 7 + 6 + 5 + 8 + 4 = 30 = 3 + 0 = 3 At this point, Santa, Clover and Lotus realize it's a potential life-or-death situation as to who scans their bracelets at the REDs next. A furious Santa calls Junpei a "son of a bitch". Despite Lotus and Clover getting a running headstart, Santa manages to pass them and scan his bracelet at the RED and says "This is insane! This isn't right!" Santa enters Door 3 with Santa, June, and Seven, and leaves the incredulous and desperate Clover and Lotus behind. Fortunately for Clover and Lotus, the group returns. A furious Lotus slaps Junpei hard across the face for what happened before. If Junpei chooses Door 7 Aoi asked Junpei which door he wanted to go through and he picked Door 7. Aoi quickly mentioned that Akane had to go into Door 8 because that was the only way to split the six of them up evenly. While Akane and Junpei were scared about being separated, Seven reassured them that the two groups will meet back up somewhere. With that, Seven, Clover, and Junpei hurried through Door 7 and Aoi, Akane, and Lotus went through Door 8. Aoi and his group escaped the laboratory at about the same time Junpei and his group escaped the operating room. They met inside of a long hallway and they followed it back to the hospital room. If Junpei chooses Door 8 Aoi enters Door 7 with Akane and Seven, while Junpei, Clover and Lotus enter Door 8. Reunion The two groups escape their respective rooms and to their surprise, meet back in the hospital room. The players told a now-awake Hongou about what they went through and they planned their next course of action. Clover spoke up and wanted to check Door 3 to see if her brother was there. Hongou and Seven grudgingly followed her in to investigate. Meanwhile, Lotus wanted to see what their keys that they had found would open. Aoi went with Lotus to the Earth door and Akane and Junpei went down to the Saturn elevator. Aoi and Lotus find Door 1 behind the Earth door and quickly went back to the central staircase to share their news. Akane and Junpei had apparently found Door 6 after taking the elevator down to E Deck. The four of them head back to the hospital room to report their findings. They walked into a dreadful room, with Hongou telling them that they had found what appeared to be Snake's corpse in the shower room, blown up like Kubota. The four decided to go look at his body but almost suffocated from the smell. They head back to the hospital and theorized how "Snake" (Nijisaki) might have died. Seven suggested that the culprits forced him to authenticate at the door, threw him in, and waited 9 seconds for the door to close. With no one else in the room to authenticate on the DEAD, the bomb in his body exploded. Hongou suggested that Zero was the murderer and Clover suggested Zero was actually one of the players. Shocked, Hongou told her that she had to be willing to trust the other players, as if they don't, they would be falling into Zero's trap. With Clover convinced and another hour ticking by, they went to the Mercury elevators. Akane and Junpei checked where the elevator led to and it went down to the bottom deck, the home of Door 2. They went back up and gave everyone the news. This now gave the players three options in which doors to go through: Door 1, 2, or 6. Junpei came up with a voting system to see who goes into what door but had a plan to cheat the system to choose whatever door he wanted. Safe Ending Aoi goes through Door 6 with Junpei, Ace, and Akane. They end up in the Steam engine room, where Akane's fever returns, justifying that Junpei picked the wrong path, he is forced to watch his sister suffer in silence. Aoi tells Ace and Junpei about the rat experiment with morphogenetic fields and tells Junpei about his sister when they were younger and that he blames himself for her death. In actuality, Aoi lied about his sister's death in order to save her. After speaking about his sister, the group advances to the cargo room. While searching the room, Akane collapses. Aoi suggests taking her to one of Ace's hospitals, revealing his knowledge of Ace's past. They discover a coffin that contains a revolver, which Ace secretly takes. They find two Door 9s in the Chapel. Aoi refuses to leave Akane behind and they decide to find the others. Upon reaching the Central Staircase, they learn from Seven and Lotus that Clover has vanished. They all break up to search for her, but Seven finds her dead in the First Class Cabin. After Junpei opens the safe in the room, he summons everyone to the Large Hospital Room. There, he reveals Snake is still alive and Ace attempted to kill him. He also pretends to be Aoi in order to reveal that Ace has prosopagnosia. Although he denies it at first, Ace eventually admits to killing the Ninth Man, Clover and Guy X. He then holds Lotus at gunpoint to escape, threatening to kill her to escape. They attempt to follow him but Akane starts to feel sick. Aoi volunteers to stay with her until she feels better. Eventually Aoi and Akane part and he heads to the Captain's Quarters. He pretends to be Zero and admits he lost the Nonary Game because he couldn't save his sister. Aoi then knocks out Junpei, Seven, and Lotus with Soporil, but it is unknown what he does with them. True Ending After they made their choices, Junpei picked Door 1, and Aoi accused him of switching his vote after seeing the results. Junpei showed him the papers, his trick already complete, and Aoi furiously snorted, telling him that he got lucky. Junpei, Clover, and Hongou went through Door 1, and Seven and Lotus joined Aoi and Akane to go through Door 6. Aoi and his group found their way through the steam engine room and the cargo room. While in the cargo room, Aoi secretly took the golden revolver from the coffin and stashed it in his pocket while no one was looking. After leaving the room, they reached a door, which turned out to be the chapel. The room contained two Door 9s and a coffin. Aoi, Seven, and Lotus could have escaped right then and there, but Aoi refused to leave Akane behind as Junpei still had to save her past self. They went back to the central staircase to get the other players and brought them down to the chapel. In the chapel, they found that although there are two Door 9s, they cannot split themselves in a way for all of them to escape. Seven volunteered to sacrifice himself, but the other players harshly refused to leave him behind. Aoi spoke up and said that he also doesn't want to leave Seven by himself. He quickly pulled the revolver out of his pocket and held Akane hostage. He states that he doesn't care about Akane and will do anything to escape. He even fires the gun to scare the other players to do what he says. He also threatens to kill Clover for questioning him. He then forced Hongou and Lotus to authenticate and they quickly left through the big Door 9, leaving Junpei, Clover, and Seven with no apparent way out. Aoi led his unwilling group into the incinerator when suddenly, Ace sucker-punched him in the stomach. Ace took the revolver and took Lotus hostage, dragging her towards the final Door 9 and turning the tables against Aoi. Suddenly, Junpei and his group rushed into the incinerator. Hongou authenticates, and to his surprise, the door didn't open. He angrily tried a few more times, leaving him open for Seven to charge at. He was knocked to the floor by Seven's blow and painfully kneeled on the ground. Junpei got him to admit that he killed the other executives and made him realize, to his dismay, that he was being manipulated by Zero into killing them. Junpei, thinking he knew everything, requested Aoi to admit that he was Zero. He calmly revealed himself to be Aoi Kurashiki and Zero's assistant but stated that he wasn't Zero. He told them that the main reason why they were there was to save Akane. The other players looked around the room and saw that she had disappeared. Aoi took the revolver back from Ace and dragged him out of the incinerator, leaving the other players there. He and Akane left the facility and placed the tied-up Hongou into an SUV that was left outside the facility. Aoi then drove a jeep through the desert with Akane, now that the Second Nonary Game fulfilled its purpose. Junpei, the others, and a hitchhiker they picked up named Alice planned on finding them, but to no avail. It is unknown what happened to him after leaving Building Q. Creator's comment Quotes * "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" (to Kubota after he grabs Clover) * "He... he blew up..." (seeing the 9th Man's bloody corpse) * "Fuck! I've had enough of this crap! How long are we gonna pussyfoot around like this?! We've only got 8 hours until this time limit Zero was going on about is up! Let's get goin' already! Go! Go!" * "I'm not gonna screw up like that! I'm gettin' outta here alive!" * "What's so goddamn funny!? What the fuck!?" (to Light) * "If it is, then it's a pretty fucked up experiment! I mean, c'mon! A guy's dead!" * "I dunno who the hell this Zero asshole is, but I know for sure he's gotta be pretty fucked up in the head to do all this." * "Hey man, I just bought these shoes. If you think I'm getting some creepy dude's blood all over 'em, you got another think comin'." (to Junpei) * "You know what I hate most in the world? I got 4 things: Hope, Faith, Love, and Luck. Damn straight." * "Hey, you old bag! I just found the perfect thing for a woman in her 40s!" (to Lotus, who punches him after this) * "Nah. C'mon man, that's just silly. Maybe back in the Dark Ages that kinda crap scared people, but this is the 21st century, and I'm a 21st century guy." (Junpei asks Aoi if he's worried about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) * "...The lady has spoken. We'd better get back to work before we really piss her off. I don't want her beating me up." * "HAHAHAAHA! Are you serious!? Telepathy? Who do you think we are? Kids from the 70s? I can't believe someone would actually do serious research on something like that." * "Hey! No more screwin' around you two! Break time's over. Especially for you, lady. You've just been sitting on that fat ass of yours while we were freezing to death. Yeah, yeah, how about you put all that energy into something besides bitching. Let's go!" * "Hermes, herpes, whatever." * "Oh, yes, what an excellent idea! We just wasted a bunch of time looking for some piece of electronic junk, now let's waste some more by looking for a couple of idiots!" * "Look, if you trust anybody in this game, you're gonna lose. You've gotta be careful. The person you trust the most could turn out to be the one who stabs you in the back." * "What the hell is that shit? I've got no idea-- Shut up! Just shut up, you stupid bitch! You want me to put a bullet in your fucking head?!" (to Clover) * "Have you ever heard the story of the 2 Santa Clauses? It goes that a long time ago, there were 2 Santas... One of 'em wore white, and the other one wore black. The white Santa gave presents to good kids. And the black Santa played tricks on bad kids. They went on like that for a while, but eventually the black Santa's tricks started to get worse and worse. Pretty soon, the white Santa couldn't stand it anymore... And he stabbed the black Santa to death. When he stabbed the other Santa, the white Santa got blood all over his clothes. And that's why, these days, his clothes are red. You could say that red is all that's left of the black Santa. I wonder... which Santa I am. The white Santa or the black Santa... " * "Sure, I was helping Zero out, but I'm really more of an... assistant. Like a secretary. But an assistant's only an assistant. I didn't come up with all this. All I did was follow Zero's orders." * "Game over." (to Junpei, using a voice changer, after Akane dies in the Safe ending.) * "No. You misunderstand. You haven't lost. I... have lost." (to Junpei, using a voice changer, after Akane dies in the Safe ending.) Trivia * His English and Japanese aliases are identical. Santa (サンタ) is derived from the Japanese word "san" (三), which means "three". Also, Santa makes several references during the game to himself being Santa Claus. * His real name, Aoi (葵), means "hollyhock", a plant which was historically the symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate in the form of the triple-leaf "mitsuba aoi". His name is also a homonym for aoi (青い), "blue". * His bracelet's real number is presumably 9. Given the combination that opens the safe (14383421) and multiplying it by 9 is 129450789. This could reveal the actual values of all the bracelets, as it is a sequence of numbers from 1 to 9, where 3 (Santa's number) and 6 (Akane's number) are replaced by other numbers, probably their real value. *In the character popularity polls, Aoi ranks #5 in Japan and #3 in the United States. *Aoi always goes through a numbered door with Akane to maintain the guise that his bracelet number is 3 and his sister's is 6. Because Aoi and Akane's bracelets are actually 0 and 9, when Aoi and Akane are paired, their bracelet values cancel each other out. In addition, the 9 bracelet has no effect on the actual digital root. *When Junpei and June are searching for Snake, they have the option to speak to him. If they do, he ominously tells Junpei that "The person you trust the most could turn out to be the one that stabs you in the back.", which foreshadows June's involvement in creating the Second Nonary Game. * The director of the Zero Escape series, Kotaro Uchikoshi, has heavily implied Aoi is bisexual. The first occurrence was in a 999 Q and A session where he said, "Does Aoi even like girls? I have to start considering from that." The second was on Twitter where he said, "Aoi might be able to love both male and female."https://twitter.com/uchikoshi/status/359510289558941697 If Aoi is bisexual, then he would be the first (known) LGBT character in the Zero Escape series, and the only (known) LGBT character. Gallery SantaProfile.png|Official profile. Santa (1).png|Aoi happy. Santa (2).png|Aoi sad. Santa (3).png|Aoi shocked. Santa (4).png|Aoi uncomfortable. Santa (5).png|Aoi serious. Santa (6).png|Aoi angry. Santa (7).png|Aoi neutral. Santa (8).png|Aoi laughing. Santa (9).png|Aoi talking. SantaAngry.gif|Aoi angry. SantaConfused.gif|Aoi confused. SantaNervous.gif|Aoi uncomfortable. SantaSerious.gif|Aoi serious. SantaSmiling.gif|Aoi smiling. SantaSmirking.gif|Aoi explaining. SantaSurprised.gif|Aoi surprised. AoiSprites.png|Spritesheet. Bracelet 3.png|Aoi's bracelet. Santared.png|Santa's hand on the RED. Santadead.png|Santa's hand on the DEAD. Santa concept 1.jpg|Concept art. Santa concept 2.jpg|Concept art. Santaartbook3.png|Concept art. Santaartbook4.png|Concept art. 999-santa-sketches2.jpg|Concept art. 999-santa-sketches3.jpg|Concept art. 999 players.png|Aoi with the players. Cast 4.png|Aoi with the players. Santa Lotus.png|Aoi in the novel. Sub end dead 1.png|Aoi killed by Ace (Hongou) in the Sub Ending. StupidBitch.png|Santa tells Clover to shut up and calls her a stupid bitch. SantaThreatensClover.png|Santa threatens to kill Clover by shooting a bullet in her fucking head. JuneGun.png|Aoi holds his sister at gunpoint (true end). June santa hostage 2.png|Aoi holds his sister at gunpoint (true end). 9 years ago 6.png|Aoi in the First Nonary Game. 9 years ago 7.png|Aoi listens to Light explaining the "leaf words". Door Q.png|Aoi sees Door q. 9 years ago 10.png|Aoi watches as Seven comes out of the duct. 9 years ago 11.png|Aoi looks at Seven. 9 years ago 12.png|Aoi looks up as Seven lowers a rope made of bedsheets. 9 years ago 13.png|Aoi is pulled up to safety by Seven. 9 years ago 16.png|Aoi, Light, and Seven running to the exit. 9 years ago 18.png|Aoi, Light, and Seven pounding on the incinerator door. True end 1.png|Aoi reunited with his sister (true end). True end 2.png|The Gigantic sinking in the Atlantic Ocean (true end). Santawallpaper.jpg|Phone wallpaper. Category:Characters Category:Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors characters Category:Male characters Category:Japanese characters Category:First Nonary Game players Category:Second Nonary Game players Category:Esper Category:Crash Keys member